I was surprised to receive a Notice of Intended Prosecution (NIP) for allegedly travelling at 56mph along a stretch of dual carriageway I know has a 40mph speed limit - which I do consciously try to observe. If it had alleged 45mph I might well have accepted that I had carelessly exceeded the limit, but not by 16mph. I therefore requested the photographic evidence.

I'm pleased I did as the photo I received showed a motorcycle - not my silver Honda Jazz. Upon enquiry it seems that vehicle registration plates are not read by the human eye but by optical character recognition technology, resulting in a staggering four of the eight characters on the motorcycle's registration plate being mis-read. The letter admitting the error stated that "cases such as this are extremely rare". However the fact that this letter was clearly a standard one with a stereotyped signature suggests that this occurrence is not as rare as it claimed. So if you receive a NIP get the photographic evidence - or you may end up paying some one else's fine and having their points on your driving licence.